Handbook of Church History, Vol. I, by Karl Baus,
Herder and Herder, 1965

Conditions
leading to Mass Emigration

At the end of the Thirty Years War and the latter part of the 17th century,
the Palatinate was repeatedly the stamping ground of Louis XIVís armies. Their
homes were burned by the warring, invading French. In 1674, the province was
completely devastated. Moreover, protracted disputes among the neighboring
princes, left over from the religious warfare of the early 17th century, gave
rise to continuous armed conflict within local regions. In May 1707, during the
War of the Spanish Succession, Marshall Villars crossed the Rhine and plundered
and requisitioned freely from the citizens of the Palatinate leaving them
bankrupt in every respect. The Palatinate was occupied in September of 1707 by
the French as well. When the French left, the people were drained of supplies,
resources and money. Constant invasions and occupations wiped out their many
rivals and discouraged future rivals.

Following the occupations and invasions of the wars, the winter of 1708 was particularly
harsh. From the beginning of October to March it was extremely cold. Many could
not feed or warm their families because they were in such a weakened state
financially, many did not have homes to shelter in, many died. Fruit trees and
vines were frozen and killed by a blizzard in February 1709. The loss of the
fruit crop was another blow from which they would not recover.

Germany was a land of regional princes during the 17th century. These princes
were envious of the splendor of the French Court at Versailles and they wanted
to emulate it. Starting in 1681 and continuing for the next 25 years, the German
peasants were taxed for the luxuries of the rich and to finance the wars which
destroyed their homes.

The Treaty of Westphalia (1648) and the Peace of Augsburg (1555) recognized
three churches in Europe; Catholic, Lutheran and the Calvinist/Reformed church.
These Acts dictated that the religion of the Ruler was the religion of the
people. Although no formal charges of persecution are evident in the Palatinate,
persecution in surrounding areas lead to emigration of others which stressed a
drained environment and economy. France was also rift with religious persecution
in the 1500 and 1600s. Many French traveled to the Rhine and Palatinate to
escape it, becoming known then as German Palatines.

The hunger for land was another motivating factor for the Palatine
emigration. As mentioned before, after resurrecting their homes and means of
livelihood many times only to have it destroyed again, many became discouraged
and did not try anymore. The desire to secure land for their support and to
leave a heritage for their children did not diminish. The realization that they
would have to emigrate to accomplish that goal made them willing to listen to
British propaganda about the New World.

British
Subsidy of Emigration

Politics in England and Englandís self-envisioned role as the protector of
the Protestant Cause in Europe was a precursor to their subsidy of emigration
from various parts of Europe.

The participants of the Protestant Reformation and the "reformers",
Luther, Chambon, Calvin, broke forever with the papacy and the associate guilt
that was prevalent in the Catholic ideology. These "reformers"
"...claimed to bring at last the long-demanded reform, and separated all
northern Europe and part of central Europe from the papacy."(1) The
Protestant philosophy replaces the physical church as the central aspect of the
church and man becomes the central figure in continuing the works of Christ on
earth through acts of missionary. The introduction of Church history into the
curriculum of the universities had begun in Germany. During the period of
reconstruction after the Thirty Years War, many German Protestant Universities
appointed chairs of ecclesiastical history to continue the spread of the Ďwordí
of the Reformation. The presence of Protestantism and the deplorable conditions
under which the Palatine peasants lived made for a fertile field for British
manipulations.

In 1688, William and Mary of Orange took the throne from James II to curtail
encroachments of Catholic France on the continent and further promote a
Protestant presence there. During the same time, the aging Louis XIV of France
was becoming more intolerant of Protestants and broke the Edict of Nantes which
granted religious tolerance to French Protestants, persecuting them. The
Huguenots fled to Germany, the New World and England. When William of Orange
declared war on France in 1689, he invited the Huguenots to come to England.
Queen Anne, whose husband was Prince George of Denmark and of German Lutheran
stock, continued to encourage and give succor and aid to the Huguenots and other
Protestants after Williamís reign ended. After the death of her beloved
husband in 1708, she became even more interested and influential in the Palatine
Cause. As a political ruler, Queen Anne was not unaware that by increasing the
population of England, she would also increase its wealth and strength.

Queen Anne sponsored the first small Palatine emigration of 1708 to America,
consisting of 41 people, 10 men, 10 women and 21 children. These were the
families of Lorenz Schwisser, Michael Weigand, Henry Rennau, Jacob Weber,
Andreas Volck, Jacob Pletal, Johannes Fischer, Melchior Gulch, Joshua
Kocherthal. A single man, Isaac Turck (23 yrs. old) plus fourteen more people
were added to the shipís list at the last minute. The fourteen were: Peter
Rose & wife, Maria Wemarin and their daughter; Isaac Feber with wife and
son; Daniel Fiere with his wife and two children; Herman Schuneman. On the
voyage over, on the Globe, two more children were born. The ship landed
in Flushing, Long Island, New York, and the passengers wintered there. In the
spring, they were settled on land on the west side of the Hudson at the mouth of
Quassaick Creek (Newburgh, NY) by Gov. Lovelace.

Beginning
the Voyage

The Palatines built rafts of logs to sail down the Rhine to Rotterdam. This
was a voyage that would take them 4 - 6 weeks. There were fees and tolls to be
paid, but often they were provided with food and money and clothing by pious
countrymen. They worried constantly about being stopped and detained or turned
back by the authorities. While waiting for the English ship/sloop, one such
vessel was the H.M.S. Drake, to cross the North Sea and English Channel, they
camped outside of Rotterdam. The encampment outside Rotterdam was miserable. The
shacks they made, covered with reeds, were the only shelter they had from the
elements. The Burogmaster of Rotterdam took pity on them and appropriated 750
guilders for distribution among the destitute. Meanwhile, The British government
employed three Anabaptist Dutch merchants, Hendrik van Toren, Jan van Gent and
John Suderman, to supervise the loading and sailing of the emigrants to England.
The Palatines arrived in increasing numbers in Holland at the rate of nearly a
thousand per week. On June 14, 1709, James Dayrolle, British resident at the
Hague, informed London that if the British government continued to give bounty
to the Palatines and encourage their migration, half of Germany would be on
their doorstep. The immigrants were coming so fast it was impossible to care for
them. So the British tried to turn back many Palatines, especially the
Catholics, and by late July refused to honor their commitments to support the
German arrivals. Many of those arriving, if not sent back, made their way to
England by private charitable contribution or at their own expense. These people
would most likely not have been catalogued so no record of their passage, except
possibly a passenger list would exist. The Palatines would arrive in London and
await a ship to cross the Atlantic in Blackheath settlement. The British
government issued 1,600 tents for their use at encampments formed at Blackheath,
Greenwich and Kensington, Tower Ditch and other areas. The Palatines arriving in
England beginning in May 1709 continued to have problems sustaining themselves.
Some Palatines made small wooden toys to sell; some were reduced to begging, a
task usually carried out by the married women. Many children born in the
encampments died. Marriages and baptisms taking place in the encampments are
registered at St. Nicholas Church in England. The longer the Palatines waited in
England, the worse their condition became. They had to depend on alms and
charity to survive. At first, the people of London were sympathetic, but as time
went on the poor of London regarded them as competition for food and reduced the
scale of their wages. Shopkeepers feared that their wares would not be sold with
the continued presence of the unenfranchised Palatines. Mobs of people began
attacking the Palatines with axes, hammers and scythes. The upper classes became
alienated from them, fearing they were spreading disease and fever. Even Juries
were prejudiced against them. To alleviate the situation, the government began
to ship groups of Germans back to Germany, many were sent to other parts of
England where they were made day laborers and swineherds. Others were dispatched
to Ireland, the Americas and British held Caribbean islands. The disbursement of
the Palatines depended on British evaluation of the need to expand a Protestant
presence in the British domain.

Ireland
Settlement

In 1709, 794 families were sent to Ireland to strengthen the Protestant
presence there since it was feared that the Irish would strive to return the
Stuart James III to the throne of England. Once there, the Palatines employed
themselves very industriously in raising flax and hemp. The were met with
hostility by Catholic Ireland, but the accession of George I (1714) to the
throne increased the governments disposition to look after them so Catholic
opposition had little effect upon them. In 1745, John Wesley visited the
settlements and found that the Palatines did not have Pastors to minister to
them. Wesley provided them with Pastors, thereby many Germans became Methodist.
This motivated Irelandís Palatines to emigrate to America to expand the
Methodist influence there. In 1760, five or six families including Philip Embury
and his cousin Barbara Heck to come to New York and in 1766 founded the
Methodist Church of the United States. Meanwhile, in Ireland, assimilation into
Irish culture was taking place. By 1830, although the older generation still
clung to their language and customs, the younger were marrying into Irish
families. By 1934, the German language had disappeared in the old settlements.
The Irish reportedly found all Palatines and in particular the women to be
hardworking helpmates to the core.

South
Carolina

In 1709, 40 or 50 families were disbursed to South Carolina. Over half were
lost from disease and sickness aboard ship. The contract they entered into with
the British government was feudal in nature which did little to encourage long
term loyalty with the Palatines and many families stole away into the night
after a few months. Those that remained at the settlement of New Bern were
subjected to numerous Indian attacks. The settlement at New Bern did not prosper
and eventually the Palatines that remained were left to their own devices.

New York

The British had been concerned for many years prior to 1709 about a foreign
monopoly in naval stores which was controlled by the Swiss. England was hearing
about boat loads of tar and pitch sailing down the Hudson to New York City from
Edward Randolph, Surveyer General of Customs in the United States. The chief
obstacle to Englandís use of the New York State resources was labor. Thus it
was decided to contract with the Palatines to provide that labor and remove them
from England. It was proposed by the Gov. Elect of NY, Robert Hunter to send
them to New York specifically to be used in the manufacture of naval stores,
i.e. tar and pitch, from the pines of the Hudson Valley. It was also
acknowledged that a strong Palatine presence in the new world would act as a
buffer against the French in Canada and strengthen the Protestant cause in
British America. A contract was made between the Germans and the English
government. The Germans would work until the expenses for their journey were
repaid, then they would be given 40 acres of land, free from taxes and quit
rents for 7 years. Ten to Eleven ships were chartered in April of 1710, holding
about 3300 people total. One of them to cross the Atlantic was the "Lyon".
It would take an average of 8-10 weeks to cross in favorable weather and three
months or longer in adverse weather. Some 500 persons died on the Lyon
voyage over as their conditions were miserable. They were crowded together,
suffered from vermin and poor sanitation, and subsisted on unhealthy food. Typhus
was rampant. Of the 13,000 Germans who had made it the England, only a fourth of
those made it to New York

The New York City Council protested their arrival in the City, and fearing
shipboard diseases, forced them to be contained in quarantine on Nutterís
Island. At Nutterís Island, now Governorís Island, a system of Justice was
needed so the Government appointed one of the Palatine passengers, John Conrad
Weiser, to administer it and settle disputes. Disease, scarce food &
sickness reduced the population leaving many widows and orphans. Part of the
contract between Englandís Queen Anne and the Palatines included a clause that
prevented them from becoming a financial burden. Orphaned children would be
apprenticed out to tradesmen or farmers or as domestics. Widows, with children,
were left behind in the cities to be placed for employment when the other
Palatines were moved upstate because they would be little use in the labors
required by the contract with the Government.

Gov. Hunter entered into a contract with Robert Livingston to purchase a
tract of 6, 000 acres on the east side of the Hudson for the purpose of settling
the Palatines there. On October 7, 1710, the able families were moved out to
Livingston Manor. The Patroon gave them lots to build cabins and his overseer to
help guide them because they had no experience building homes from logs. The
lots were 40í x 50í, small compared to the 40 acres they were promised for
their labors. The acreage was withheld on the basis that they must first do the
labor and earn it. At the settlement on the Patroonís land, a leader was
chosen. John Conrad Weiser filled this function as well and while meeting with
the Patroon about his concerns of food and supplies for the Palatines, he was
told that five towns were to be established per Gov. Hunter. Three of these on
the East bank of the Hudson and two on the West bank. Queensbury, Annsbury and
Haysbury were towns on the east bank, Elizabeth Town, George Town and New Town
were villages created on the west bank. Some of the Palatines that remained in
NYC eventually made their way to New Jersey and settled there.

The Palatines in what was to become Greene County grew increasing
dissatisfied with their status and strongly demanded their rights under the
contract. Their rebellion was put down by the Governor, who disarmed the Germans
and put them under the command of overseers and a Court of Palatine
Commissioners, who treated them as the Queens hired servants.

In the US, a war between England and France raged, mostly in and around
Canada. This caused the Palatines much anxiety, fearful that their condition in
Europe would repeat itself here. Many in the settlements were expecting to be
conscripted for military service. Since they were unhappy with the way the terms
of the contract were administered and felt that by fighting on Englandís side
against the French, which they were disposed to do anyway, that they would have
more influence to affect the changes they wanted. So, some 300 of them
volunteered to go fight in 1711.

Meanwhile in England, the political structure changed. The Whigs, who largely
supported and sponsored the Palatine settlements were superseded in office by
the Tories who disparaged the 1709er project and Gov. Hunter lost financial
backing for the project. In September 1712, he withdrew his subsistences to the
Palatines. After all the British promises, they were left to suffer their own
fate. A record of their plight was written by Johann Friederich Hager, the
Reformed German clergyman sent to minister them, in a letter dated July 6, 1713
he writes:

...the misery of these poor Palatines I every day behold
has thrown me into such a fit of melancholy that I much fear a sickness. There
has been great famine among them this winter, and does hold on still, in so
much that they boil grass and the ch. eat the leaves of the trees. Such
amongst have most suffered of the hunger as are advanced in years and too weak
to go out laborering. I have seen old men and women crie that it should have
almost moved a stone. I am almost resined with this people. I have given bread
out of my own mouth to many a one of these, not being able to behold their
extreme want. Where I live, there are two old people that before I could be
informed of the necessitous condition, have for a whole week together had
nothing but Welsh turnips, which they did only scrape and eat without salt or
fat or bread; they are in a miserable state, with no hope of alteration....

Having been left to their own resources, the more adverturous
stole away in late 1712 to the Schoharie Valley, John Conrad Weiser among them.
They were not permitted to bring their tools with them, so they fashioned
substitutes: branches of a tree for a haymaking fork, a shovel from a
hollowed-out log-end, etc. By the time of their naturalization in 1715, the
1709ers were spread out over colonial New York. About this time, Ulrich
Simmendinger began gathering family data concerning his compatriots which he
would publish when he returned to Germany in 1717.

The adventures of the Schoharie Palatines can be gleaned from
readily available sources, as well as, the adventures of the Palatines who
migrated to New Jersey. Some excellent sources are John P. Dern, Albany
Protocol, and Simon Hart and Harry J. Kreiderís Lutheran Church in NY
and NJ 1722-1760.

NOTE: Available documents including the Livingstonís contract to Victual
the Palatines, and can be found in the Documentary History of the State of New
York. A record of Livingstonís voyage over on the "Charity"
is available at the FDR Library in Hyde Park, NY.